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Bat Flies off with New Zealand's Bird of the Year Title

The pekapeka-tou-roa or the long-tailed bat was added to the competition this year to help raise awareness of the mammal as it faces extinction. (Department of Conservation NZ)
The pekapeka-tou-roa or the long-tailed bat was added to the competition this year to help raise awareness of the mammal as it faces extinction. (Department of Conservation NZ)
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Bat Flies off with New Zealand's Bird of the Year Title

The pekapeka-tou-roa or the long-tailed bat was added to the competition this year to help raise awareness of the mammal as it faces extinction. (Department of Conservation NZ)
The pekapeka-tou-roa or the long-tailed bat was added to the competition this year to help raise awareness of the mammal as it faces extinction. (Department of Conservation NZ)

A tiny bat took off with New Zealand's bird of the year award this week, making it the first non-bird to win the coveted title that is closely watched in the Pacific island nation.

The pekapeka-tou-roa or the long-tailed bat, which is about the size of a thumb, was added to the competition this year to help raise awareness of the mammal as it faces extinction.

It was declared the winner after a two-week campaign which organizers claim "broke the internet".

"The campaign to raise awareness and support for this little flying furball has captured the nation!" Forest & Bird's Bird of the Year spokesperson Laura Keown said in a statement.

"A vote for bats is also a vote for predator control, habitat restoration, and climate action to protect our bats and their feathered neighbors," she said.

This is the first time a bat, or any mammal, was included in the contest organized by New Zealand's Forest & Bird conservation charity, and the winning choice stoked much controversy on social media. Many expressed their disappointment and called the contest a farce.

"If I were a bird, I would feel ripped off," said one Twitter user.

The voting closed on Oct. 31 with 56,733 verified votes cast, making it the biggest ever Bird of the Year.

"Long-tailed bats, or pekapeka-tou-roa, are a unique part of Aotearoa's biodiversity, but lots of people don't know they even exist," said Ben Paris, senior conservation advisor at Auckland Council, using the Maori name for New Zealand.

The long-tailed bat, which has the scientific name Chalinolobus tuberculatus, received 7,031 votes, beating the kakapo, which got 4,072 votes to come second. The kakapo, called an owl parrot, is a large, flightless and nocturnal bird, which is also considered critically endangered, and won the competition last year.

The annual Bird of the Year competition has run into several controversies over the years.

The 2020 election was roiled with voter fraud after 1,500 fraudulent votes were recorded for the kiwi pukupuku or the little-spotted kiwi.

Hundreds of votes from Russia sparked accusation of Russian meddling in the elections in 2019.

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Kashmir’s Saffron Growers Experiment with Indoor Farming as Climate Pressures Mount

Kashmiri villagers collect stigma from saffron flowers in Pampore, 19 km (12 miles) south of Srinagar.(Reuters)
Kashmiri villagers collect stigma from saffron flowers in Pampore, 19 km (12 miles) south of Srinagar.(Reuters)
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Kashmir’s Saffron Growers Experiment with Indoor Farming as Climate Pressures Mount

Kashmiri villagers collect stigma from saffron flowers in Pampore, 19 km (12 miles) south of Srinagar.(Reuters)
Kashmiri villagers collect stigma from saffron flowers in Pampore, 19 km (12 miles) south of Srinagar.(Reuters)

Tucked in a valley beneath the snow-capped Himalayas of the Indian Kashmir region is the town of Pampore, famed for its farms that grow the world's most expensive spice - the red-hued saffron.

This is where most of saffron is farmed in India, the world's second-largest producer behind Iran of the spice, which costs up to 325,000 rupees ($3,800) a kg (2.2 pounds) because it is so labor-intensive to harvest.

Come October, the crocus plants begin to bloom, covering the fields with bright purple flowers from which strands of fragrant red saffron are picked by hand, to be used in foods such as paella, and in fragrances and cloth dyes.

"I am proud to cultivate this crop," said Nisar Ahmad Malik, as he gathered flowers from his ancestral field.

But, while Malik has stuck to traditional farming, citing the "rich color, fragrance and aroma" of his produce through the years, some agrarian experts have been experimenting with indoor cultivation of the crop as global warming fears increase.

About 90% of India's saffron is produced in Kashmir, of which a majority is grown in Pampore, but the small town is under threat of rapid urbanization, according to the Indian Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).

Experts say rising temperatures and erratic rainfall pose a risk to saffron production, which has dropped from 8 metric tons in the financial year 2010-11 to 2.6 metric tons in 2023-24, the federal government told parliament in February, adding that efforts were being made to boost production.

One such program is a project to help grow the plant indoors in a controlled environment in tubes containing moisture and vital nutrients, which Dr. Bashir Ilahi at state-run Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences said has shown good results.

"Growing saffron in a controlled environment demonstrates temperature resistance and significantly reduces the risk of crop failure," said Ilahi, standing in his laboratory between stacks of crates containing tubes of the purple flower.

Ilahi and other local experts have been helping farmers with demonstrations on how to grow the crocus plant indoors.

"It is an amazing innovation," said Abdul Majeed, president of Kashmir's Saffron Growers Association, some of whose members, including Majeed, have been cultivating the crop indoors for a few years.

Manzoor Ahmad Mir, a saffron grower, urged more state support.

"The government should promote indoor saffron cultivation on a much larger scale as climate change is affecting the entire world, and Kashmir is no exception," Mir said.